The present invention relates to a fastener for mounting an elongated article such as a pipe or wire harness on a workpiece such as a car body panel. In particular, the present invention relates to a fastener for a pipe or the like, capable of being engaged with a stud standing on a workpiece such as a car body panel to mounting an elongated article such as a pipe held in a pipe holding portion of the fastener to the workpiece.
In a support structure for attaching a long article such as a fuel pipe, brake oil pipe or wire harness of a car, it is desired to prevent vibration from being transmitted from the pipe or the like to a car body panel or the like or from the body panel or the like to the pipe or the like. Heretofore, for the purpose of such vibration insulation, there has been typically employed a technique of attaching the pipe or the like to a fastener with winding a rubber vibration insulator around the pipe or the like. One such example includes a fastener for a pipe or the like described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-250517. In this fastener, a vibration insulation characteristic is achieved by combining a flexible plastic material with a rigid plastic material. This technique is essentially required to use two kinds of plastic materials, resulting in increased cost and weight. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-310866 discloses a pipe fastener in which a flexible bridge member is provided between a stud engagement portion and a pipe holding portion to prevent vibration transmission between the stud engagement portion and the pipe holding portion. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-116189 also discloses a pipe fastener in which a flexible strip is provided between a stud engagement portion and pipe holding portion to prevent vibration transmission between the stud engagement portion and the pipe holding portion. These fasteners can be formed of a single plastic material, and thereby the problem of cost overrun would be solved. However, somewhat specified configuration of these fasteners can cause a problem of poor versatility, because their holding force is not sufficient to hold three or more of pipes or their molding process is complicated.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 7-91570 and 9-126357 disclose a fastener for a pipe or the like, which includes a base portion, a pipe holding portion connected integrally with the base portion, and a stud engagement portion provided at the base portion and adapted to engage with a stud standing on a workpiece such as a car body panel, wherein engaging the stud engagement portion with the stud allows an elongated article such as a pipe held in the pipe holding portion to be mounted on the workpiece. This fastener is intended to reduce the number and total sectional area of connection portions between the stud engagement portion and the pipe holding portion to prevent vibration transmission between the stud engagement portion and the pipe holding portion.
The fastener in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 7-91570 and 9-126357 would provide a certain advantageous result in terms of preventing the vibration transmission between the stud engagement portion and the pipe holding portion. Further, the fastener could be formed in a suitable configuration for holding three or more of pipes. However, there is a problem of slightly low strength in the connection portions between the stud engagement portion and the pipe holding portion, because it is too enhanced to prevent the vibration transmission between the stud engagement portion and the pipe holding portion.
Therefore, in a fastener for a pipe or the like, having a stud engagement portion through which an elongated article such as a pipe held by the fastener is mounted on a workpiece such as a car body panel, it is an object of the present invention to enable the fastener to maintain high connection strength between the stud engagement portion and a pipe holding portion of the fastener while keeping a sufficient isolating property for vibration transmitted from the pipe or the like to the car body (or vise versa).
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a fastener for a pipe or the like, comprising a base portion, a pipe holding portion connected integrally with the base portion, and a stud engagement portion disposed in the base portion and adapted to engage with a stud standing on a workpiece such as a car body panel, wherein engaging of the stud engagement portion with the stud allows an elongated article such as a pipe held in the pipe holding portion to be mounted on the workpiece. In the present invention, the fastener further comprises: a support portion formed on the base portion and outside the stud engagement portion for supporting the stud engagement portion; first thin connection pieces provided at a plurality of circumferentially spaced positions between the inner periphery of the support portion and the outer periphery of the stud engagement portion to connect the support portion to the stud engagement portion in the vicinity of an inlet of a stud receiving hole formed in the stud engagement portion; and second thin connection pieces provided at a plurality of circumferentially spaced positions between the inner periphery of the support portion and the outer periphery of the stud engagement portion to connect the support portion to the stud engagement portion at a location away from the inlet in the axial direction of the stud receiving hole, whereby the stud engagement portion is connected with the support portion by only both the first and second thin connection pieces.
As above, the stud engagement portion is connected with the support portion in the base portion through only both the first thin connection pieces adjacent to the inlet and the second thin connection pieces located away from the inlet. Thus, vibration as transmitted from the pipe or the like to the body panel or the like (or vise versa) can pass through only the first and second thin connection pieces provided between the support portion and the stud engagement portion, and further these thin connection pieces hardly transmit the vibration. This provides and maintains high sufficient isolation characteristic or property of vibration from the support portion to the stud engagement portion (or vise versa). Further, the first thin connection pieces and the second thin connection pieces located at different positions from the first thin connection pieces allow the stud engagement portion to be connected to the support portion with enhanced connection strength. Thus, the fastener can achieve and maintains high connection strength between the stud engagement portion and the pipe holding portion.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first thin connection pieces may be provided at four positions on the outer periphery of the inlet of the stud engagement portion on the side of the inlet, and the second thin connection pieces may also be provided at four positions on the outer periphery of the stud engagement portion on the opposite end to the inlet. In this fastener, each of the thin connection pieces may be formed in a plate member which has a C shape when viewed in the axial direction of the stud receiving hole with the C shaped plate member extending in the axial direction.
The aforementioned stud engagement portion may include: a pair of opposed platy side walls, each extending from the location of the inlet in a stud insertion direction and extending in the longitudinal direction of the elongated article held in the pipe holding portion; a rectangular inlet wall defining the inlet of the stud receiving hole and supporting the ends of the side walls on the inlet side; and a rectangular bottom wall supporting the end of the stud engagement portion on the opposite side to the inlet wall. Further, the support portion may include: a pair of opposed side walls provided on the outer side of the side walls of the stud engagement portion to surround the stud engagement portion; a rectangular inlet ring for supporting the side walls of the support portion and surrounding an inlet region of the stud engagement portion on the side of the inlet; and a rectangular bottom ring for supporting the side walls of the support portion and surrounding the bottom wall of the stud engagement portion. In that case, the first thin connection pieces connect the inlet wall of the stud engagement portion with the inlet ring of the support portion at four discrete positions adjacent to the side walls of the stud engagement portion, and the second thin connection pieces connect the bottom wall of the stud engagement portion with the bottom ring of the support portion at four discrete positions adjacent to the side walls of the stud engagement portion.
In the above fastener, each of the side walls of the stud engagement portion may includes a stopper located adjacent to the inlet ring of the support portion to prevent the support portion from moving in the direction of getting out of the stud to the extent of causing the destruction of the thin connection pieces. Each of the stoppers may have a configuration extending outward in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the stud receiving hole to prevent the support portion from getting out of the stud engagement portion even if the thin connection pieces are broken. Each of the side walls of the stud engagement portion may further includes an additional or second stopper located adjacent to the bottom ring of the support portion to prevent the support portion from moving in the stud insertion direction to the extent of causing the destruction of the thin connection pieces. This allows the destruction of the thin connection pieces to be avoided even if excessive force acts on the support portion in the direction of getting out of the stud or in the stud insertion direction. Further, each of the stoppers may be located to receive each of the thin connection pieces. This provides enhanced stopper function to restrict the movement of the thin connection pieces as well as the support portion.